WNBA to Play Game Against USA National Team

U.S. women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma says the WNBA's summer season puts his national team at a big disadvantage in preparing for this fall's world championships in the Czech Republic.

Almost all of his roster will be made up of WNBA players, and the league's schedule allows few training opportunities before the competition, which begins on Sept. 23.

Auriemma hopes to have a few days in the spring -- before the WNBA season -- and a few days in early September with players whose teams are not in the playoffs.

On Wednesday, the league announced it will help the national team to get together in July, by having this year's All-Star game feature WNBA players playing team USA.

"We don't have a lot of time with our players, together, all of them," Auriemma said. "So we have to take advantage of whatever time we have."

WNBA stars who are members of the national team will play for Auriemma in the game. The others will play for the WNBA All-Stars. Members of the national team who are not in the league will be allowed to join their teammates for the game, USA Basketball said.

"We will showcase the greatest female basketball players in the world," said WNBA president Donna Orender.

The July 10 contest will be held for the second consecutive season at the Mohegan Sun, a casino with a 9,500-seat arena that serves as home to the WNBA's Connecticut Sun.

Carol Callan, the director of the women's basketball program for USA Basketball, said she has been talking to officials on the East Coast about hosting other exhibition games and training camps for the national team in early September.

"There's been interest in the Hartford, Connecticut area and Bridgeport's been interested," she said. "There's been a variety of places that are interested. We hope to have a decision made by early spring."

Auriemma said he will take as much time as he can with his team, wherever he can.

"Every other national team spends an awful lot of time training together," Auriemma said. "Their players just leave the WNBA team. If the (Australian) national team calls Lauren Jackson or Penny Taylor, they just leave. They have it in their contract, a lot of these people. But we don't. Our guys have to play for their WNBA team and we get them when we can."